Evaluation of gantry rotation overrun in axial CT scanning

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a simple method to assess gantry rotation overrun in a single axial CT scanning. The exposure time in the axial scanning was measured at selected nominal rotation times (400, 700, and 1000 ms) using a solid-state detector, the RTI's CT dose profiler (CTDP). CTDP was placed at the isocenter and the radiation dose rate signal (profile) was recorded. Subsequently, the full width of this profile was determined as the exposure time (Taxial). Next, CTDP was positioned on the inner cover of the gantry with a sheet of lead (1 mm thick) placed on top of the detector. Gantry rotation time (Thelical) was determined by the time between two successive radiation peaks during continuous helical scanning. The gantry overrun time (Toverrun) is, thus, determined as Taxial - Thelical. The exposure times in the axial scanning, Taxial, obtained with CTDP for nominal rotation times of 400, 700, and 1000 ms were 409.5, 709.6, and 1008.7 ms, respectively. On the other hand, the measured gantry rotation times, Thelical, were 400.0, 700.3, and 999.8 ms, respectively. Therefore, the overruns were 9.5, 9.3, and 8.9 ms for nominal rotation times of 400, 700, and 1000 ms, respectively. The evaluation of overrun in axial scanning can be accomplished with the measurements of both the exposure time in axial scanning and the gantry rotation time. It is also noteworthy that in this context, overrun implies overexposure in axial scanning, which is still used, particularly, in head CT examination.